If there were any doubt heading into the weekend, it should be gone: the Buffalo Sabres are general manager Tim Murray's show.

Goalie Ryan Miller, captain Steve Ott and president Pat LaFontaine are gone, and the end result is twofold: interim coach Ted Nolan, who was hired by LaFontaine, is feeling the heat, and the Sabres have a war chest of high draft picks with the potential to add more.

Murray is in charge of both of those situations. First, Nolan, who has gone 10-23-4 since taking over the team on Nov 13. He's had next to nothing to work with, though, and drawn praise for the job he's done. There had been talk of removing his interim tag, but that's taken a backseat — largely because LaFontaine, Nolan's biggest backer, resigned on Saturday, reportedly over the Miller trade. Contract negotiations with the coach continue.

"I have to respect what’s transpired, what’s happened and have faith it was for the right reasons."

Murray, drama aside, deserves credit for all this. The Sabres were going nowhere with their previous roster. Everyone knew that, and Murray's task was salvaging what he could. He's done that by acquiring picks when he could, and immediately tradable assets where he couldn't.

At the moment, Buffalo has 10 combined selections in the first two rounds of the 2014 and 2015 NHL drafts. That could easily jump to 13, should they (as expected) trade wingers Matt Moulson and Chris Stewart and goalie Jaroslav Halak. Defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Myers' names have come up, as well — and Ehrhoff in particular would net Murray a huge return. He's a legitimate top-pair guy with a decent (if long-term) contract.

In addition to their own first- and second-round picks in 2014, Buffalo holds the Blues' first-rounder and second-rounders from the Los Angeles Kings' (acquired for Robyn Regehr) and Minnesota. In 2015, they have their own first- and second-round picks, and second-rounders from the Kings (also obtained in the Regehr trade) and the New York Islanders (acquired for Thomas Vanek).

They also possess a conditional first from the Islanders — in either 2014 or 2015, to be determined by the Islanders — as part of the Vanek/Moulson trade. A 2016 third-rounder from St. Louis turns into a 2014 first-rounder if the Blues make the Western Conference finals or re-sign Miller before the draft. If that happens, St. Louis gets Buffalo's second-rounder and a third-round pick in 2014.

Then you've got the NHL players acquired in the Miller trade: Stewart, an inconsistent power forward who had 15 goals with the Blues, could well wind up in Ottawa, where Murray worked under his uncle Bryan until Lafontaine hired him. Halak could be on his way to the Minnesota Wild, who are looking for a goalie because of Josh Harding's multiple sclerosis-related issues.

Murray is now trying to trade Halak to the Wild. He’s 28, in the last year of his contract and was 24-9-4 with the Blues with a 2.23 goals-against average. But some inside the Wild worry he was a product of the Blues’ stingy system and there’s a reason St. Louis felt Miller, not Halak, was the final piece of a Stanley Cup puzzle.

But if the price is right, (Wild GM Chuck) Fletcher could pull the trigger.